Perth Voice Interactive

PLANS for a five-storey William Street unit block have neighbours worried it’ll dominate the street and lead to gridlock.

Locals are worried they’ll lose their privacy with balconies peering over their windows and backyards.

With 48 units and 48 car bays, many locals are sceptical every unit will contain just a one-car family, putting pressure on the already packed Alma Road and the wee laneway behind.

Developers McDonald Jones Architects reckon it’s a good fit for the site, saying it’s largely compliant under most of the rules (or soon will be when the new town planning scheme two comes in).

But even under the more generous TPS2, this one still stuffs more on the block than what’s automatically allowed. And while the architects point out a six-storey block is already just across the road, residents reckon that’s less in-your-face, being set way back from the edge of the road and obscured by trees.

The ultimate decision will rest with the local development assessment panel, scheduled to meet late January.

Most of the street turned out to meet local federal MP Alannah MacTiernan, a former Vincent mayor and former state Labor planning minister.
She counseled residents to fight the project on the grounds it’s too close to the edge of the block and leaves too little open space and green space. Opposing the height is likely a dead-end since it can be allowed under council policy, she says.

Ms MacTiernan also advised locals to contact state Liberal MP Eleni Evangel and let their views be known. She said she’d seen DAPs make “utterly” political decisions in the western suburbs, without being politically accountable.

Residents plan to meet with developers before the DAP date to try to come to a compromise.

by DAVID BELL